


Major Sexbang

by NoMansWindow2846



Category: Ninja Sex Party - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coma, M/M, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 05:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12880929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoMansWindow2846/pseuds/NoMansWindow2846
Summary: Danny decides that the meteor hurling towards Earth is small enough to do as a solo mission. He regrets going into space alone.





	Major Sexbang

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetieFiend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetieFiend/gifts).



> shout out to sweetie for being hella cool and listening to me ramble about this  
> this is for you babe
> 
> also based on the song major tom (völlig losgelöst) [yes it's german, it's better than the english]

Danny rolled his eyes. It was a small meteor, nothing he couldn’t handle alone. Ninja Brian could handle it himself too if he wanted, but he was insistent that they tackle it together with TWRP watching after them from Earth. “C’mon, Ninja Brian. I’ve defeated bigger alone.”

Ninja Brian somehow narrowed his gaze further. His hands moved in a flurry of words, only to have Danny shake his head, the curls bouncing around his face. Tightening his jaw, he really didn’t want Danny to do this alone. He just knew Danny would wind up dead and while Ninja Brian would love the peace and quiet of solitude again, he would miss the idiot. Danny’s loud energy filled a hole Ninja Brian pretended didn’t exist.

Not anything he said seemed to affect Danny, who was chatting happily with Meouch about the impending disaster to Earth. Leaving Danny to it, Ninja Brian stalked off to his room, waiting for Danny to shout a goodbye. Then he could start mediating.

Danny followed Ninja Brian with his eyes, wondering why he didn’t just flash to his room. With a shrug, he got back to Meouch, who was talking to Sung off screen.

Meouch turned back to Danny, his image flickering in the hologram, “ _ Sung said he’s willing to help. He’s gonna grab Phobos and Havve and we’ll meet up with you and Ninja Brian at the launchpad? _ ”

Danny’s eyes flicked to the hallway where their bedrooms lay. “Yeah, Ninja Brian will probably come a bit later. You know how he is.” Danny smiled, trying to ignore the way Ninja Brian walked out. For the past month or two, Ninja Brian had been acted subtly different than usual. If Danny hadn’t already known the ninja for years prior, he probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it or even cared. But Ninja Brian was his friend and Danny felt like he finally had earned the right to worry about him.

Mentally shaking his head, Danny got back to Meouch, who was now flagged on his left by Sung. “See you guys in an hour?”

“ _ Yeah, later, dude! _ ”

Closing the device, Danny held it close to his chest. He wanted to pester Ninja Brian about why he was being particularly grumpy and closed off, but figured if and when Ninja Brian decided to open up, he would be waiting with open arms and ears. Until then, there wasn’t too much he could do. Sauntering into his room, Danny dropped his kimono in the middle of the floor and slipped into his space suit.

Double checking that he had everything, including a small but reasonable size of space lube (you never know what you'll find out there), Danny exited his room, staring down the dark oak door of his roommate’s room. He lifted his fist to knock, thought better off it, and left, grabbing his helmet. He knew Ninja Brian knew where he would be, if he cared to follow after Danny.

Danny frowned lightly at the thought. Why did he care if Ninja Brian decided to follow after? He knew the ninja would love the peace and quiet for once. Well, either way, it didn’t matter. Danny would be back in their apartment before dinnertime. Checking his status band, well, okay. He would be back before midnight at least.

Danny missed his estimate for travel time by nearly 20 minutes, arriving late with Sung and Phobos waiting at the gate for him. Sung gave him a once over, glancing at Phobos, who just shook his head. Danny narrowed his eyes for a fraction of a second before knowing exactly what was happening. He patted them on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, guys. Ninja Brian will be here any moment. Now, should we get started?”

Sung waited a few seconds by the gate, waiting for the ninja to appear from behind a car or tree or something, but nothing but a slight breeze. Turning back to Danny, who chatted happily about his mission, and Phobos, who just listened, he followed after. As he led the way to the launch pad, Sung told Danny everything that he needed to accomplish once he was in orbit. By his and Phobos’ calculations, it would take about an hour and half to align him with meteor to destroy it.

Danny listened, trying to commit it all to memory, but when Sung mentioned that he and everyone else would be watching and communicating for a control center, he let the words wash over him. He remembered the basic steps: get in the rocket, align with the meteor, blast the son of a bitch out of the sky, return home.

“Danny, I need you to listen carefully. This is very important and I need you to understand.” 

Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew Sung would tell him to be careful and to get back as soon as he could and just nag him to not fly off and try find some alien lady to bang. But Sung waited and Danny sighed and nodded, “I’m listening.”

“We barely have enough fuel to get you there and back. Any misstep and you could end up landing in the ocean and being stranded there for a few hours, so I need you to understand you have to do everything precisely.”

“Everything precisely, got it.” Danny looked over the crew that were there to see him off. It was just TWRP. No Ninja Brian. That would have been odd, if not for the ninja’s recent behavior, so Danny shrugged it off. “But you guys are gonna lead me every step of the way, so I’m not worried about it.” He tilted his head just a bit, knocking a few curls off his shoulder, as he switched the helmet to his other hip. “There  _ is _ nothing to worry about, right?”

“If you follow our directions exactly, then we can have you back on Planet Earth by 10 pm.” Sung glanced over his shoulder to Phobos and Havve who seemed to be in a silent battle about something on a map or blueprint. “You know you can trust them and you helped build this rocket.”

Danny turned halfway, side eying the ship. “I made a time machine spaceship before. This wasn’t hard. You just take out the time machine-” Danny stopped himself when he realized how he was talking to. This wasn’t some lady he was trying to swoon, this was Sung, who was from outer space and the future. “Yeah. I’m gonna get in now. See you in the control room?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, dude. Things will be okay. As long as-”

“I follow you directions exactly, yeah. I got it.” With a wave to his crew, Danny climbed on board, adjusting his helmet as he settled in his seat. Sung and Havve’s faces flashed and flickered for a nearly a minute before they appeared solid across the window in front of Danny. He gave them a wave.

“ _ Danny, we’re- to launch you- a few minutes. Waiting on- calculations. _ ”

“What? You guys are breaking up.”

Havve adjusted something and the feed went black. Danny waited a few minutes before trying to connect back. Nothing. He tried again, nothing. Third, fourth, fifth time also responded with nothing. On the sixth time, the connection came back and although Meouch and Sung were a bit fuzzy, Danny could hear them perfectly fine, which is all he needed. In the back, against all the grey and whites, he made out a certain black and yellow pattern. Guess Ninja Brian decided to show after all.

“ _ Danny, we are going to launch you in about 10 minutes. We’re just wrapping up things on our end. So get comfortable. _ ”

Danny nodded, eyes glued on Ninja Brian in the background. Even though Danny had partially given up on seeing the ninja before he returned to Earth, he was glad that he had his best friend to see him off. A flash of movement from Ninja Brian’s hands made Danny focus a bit more.

_ If you die, I’m gonna kill you. _

Danny smiled. Now that was closer to the Ninja Brian he knew and loved. Well, Danny didn’t love-love him. Ninja Brian was just his best friend. Nothing more. Right? Right. While Danny was very much into the ladies, it wasn’t outside his realm of boning to find a guy or someone that didn’t identify as either. As long as he got his dick in some place warm and gooey, he didn’t care too much.

He couldn’t get lost in his head thinking about boning men or women or people. He had a fucking mission to do. Glancing at his status band, he was doing well on everything, but he would definitely need to eat when he got back. Wait. Didn’t Sung say 10 minutes? Unless his status band was hit with some electrical pulse setting the time into the future 10 minutes, it had been 20.

“Hey, Sung, Meouch?” Danny asked the static image. He waved his hand through the hologram and the image turned back to video. In the back, Sung and Ninja Brian were in a silent fight, throwing signs around. Not that Danny could read any of them as Sung was standing mostly in front of Ninja Brian. Meouch was nowhere to be seen as Phobos tried to convince Havve of an error. The robot didn’t seemed phased.

“Guys?!” Danny called a little louder.

Meouch jumped in front of the holograms camera. “  _ ’Sah, dude! _ ”

Danny held himself together at the sudden image. “Hey. I thought I was supposed to go in 10 minutes. It’s been 20.”

Meouch glanced over his shoulder to where Sung and Ninja Brian had halted their debate for now. Ninja Brian nodded. “ _ Are you sure? _ ” Ninja Brian nodded. Sung nodded a moment later. “ _ Guess what, dude? You’re going now! _ ”

Danny adjusted the straps holding him in place. “Alright. Let’s do this.” Meouch started the countdown and Danny saw Phobos stiffen just subtly enough that Danny was thankful his ninja training hadn’t gone away completely. Was something wrong? Was that why they were holding off the launch? If they didn’t do something soon, the meteor would hit Los Angeles, and much of Southern California, in a few hours.

The rocket under Danny vibrated, making his teeth chatter just a bit. He hated how quickly and cheaply he made this rocket. It was one of the few things he never used anymore, but it had a laser powerful enough to destroy meteors, so he could deal with a few vibrations to save his home and the million of women he could bone. And men and people. But those groups were more of an afterthought than his main focus.

“ _ Danny? Can you hear us? _ ” Sung’s voice rang out.

That was great. The hologram had frozen. Either that or they had turned it off, leaving a static image of Meouch smiling at the camera, while Sung and Phobos looked at each other and Havve stared at the screen. Ninja Brian was nowhere in the photo. Oh.

Maybe Ninja Brian finally realized that Danny could handle a simple small meteor on his own. Or he left to meditate about what the fuck he meditated about. Either way, Danny couldn’t help the frown going on his face.

“Yeah, I’m here. What’s up?

“ _ We’re gonna- missile at- in about- or maybe less. _ ”

“You’re breaking up again. What?”

“ _ Missile. Meteor. In an hour.” _ Danny heard static and Sung saying something to someone, not quite making it out. “ _ Are you sure you wanna say that? _ ”

It had to be something Ninja Brian was saying. He was the only Danny immediately thought would want to say anything to him.

“ _ I’m sure he wouldn’t- _ ” 

Sung was cut off by Meouch, “ _ Ninja Brian said if you don’t destroy the meteor and get your sweet ass back to Earth, he’s gonna take a rocket up there and stab you and your rocket. _ ”

Danny laughed at the image of Ninja Brian aiming his rocket to stab Danny’s rocket in the side. “Well, tell him I’ll be back soon enough and he can stab me when I get back to Earth.” Danny paused, “Wait, don’t stab me when I get back.”

Meouch’s amused voice flowed from the speakers as the vibrations lessened, “ _ He said it’s too late. He’s gonna stab you… What? Ten times? He said at least ten times, probably more. _ ” There was a quick pause before he lost his pleasant tone, “ _ Okay, Danny. You just reached the thermosphere. We want you to, to, to, uh… _ ”

Static came through, cutting off whatever Meouch was saying. Danny leaned forward, “Meouch? Sung? Hello?”

“ _ Danny? _ ” Sung… Sung sounded distressed.

“Sung? What’s going on?”

“ _ Something- miscalcu- faster than- come- _ ”

“Sung?!”

“ _ Danny-  don’t worry. Just- _ ”

Danny waved his hand through the image, resetting it back to a black box. Sighing, Danny leaned back in his seat. He looked out the side, watching Earth blend into a blue and white marble. This was one of the few points in a space mission that Danny felt peaceful. He didn’t have to worry about an alien king sicking his army on him for ruining his daughter or anything of the sort. It was just him and his thoughts as he drifted further into space, into the cold empty vacuum.

Turning back to the front of the ship, Danny took in all the stars. You could see maybe three of them from where he and Ninja Brian lived and it was always breathtaking to see just how much the universe offered them. Sure he had been to probably close to a hundred of the stars, but there were certainly more than that in a one inch by one inch square of his view. Closing his eyes, Danny took in the silence. If he wasn’t used to a ninja for a roommate on top of his ninja training, Danny might have been unsettled, but it felt like home. Like his life with Ninja Brian.

Danny peeked at his status band. He was still fine and by his rough calculations he had more than 30 minutes when he broke the exosphere. Which should be any minute now. Snuggling into his seat, Danny felt himself drift into a light sleep. Sung or Havve would get communication back up before he had to do something. Until then, might as well catch up on sleep.

 

Sung pulled on one wire before cutting it and examining it. No. It was fine. Shoving the cutters into his mouth, he taped the wire back together. He couldn’t see what was being said, but he knew Phobos and Ninja Brian were arguing.

“Stop it. Arguing isn’t going to get communication back. If you wanna help, go help Meouch find some wires.” Sung heard Phobos shuffle to the back of the room, digging around in boxes alongside Meouch. Sung pulled himself out from under the main control panel, looking over to Havve. “You got any better luck?” The robot stared at him. “Right.”

Sung looked up to Ninja Brian, who was so very close to snapping and destroying the entire room. “Dude, you need to calm down. We’re gonna get Danny back. The rocket was programmed to stop just outside the exosphere, where Danny could shoot the meteor.”

_ Except it’s coming too fast. _

“Hey, I didn’t say that.” Sung wiped his hands, dropping the cutters and tape on a blank area. “If Danny’s careful, he can get rid of it.”

_ Then what? He’s just gonna sit there until fuel runs out and he freezes to death? _

“Hey, we’ll have communication up and running before that happens. I promise.” Sung smiled when Ninja Brian’s gaze tightened.

 

Danny didn’t wake to Sung’s cheerful voice or an image of Ninja Brian staring him down. No, he woke to the alarm system he installed for foreign objects on his ass. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Danny moved to turn off the warning. He hadn’t used this rocket in years, there wouldn’t be anyone-

The meteor.

Danny blinked. The meteor was approaching. Faster than he would have thought, but whatever. No time for that. Pushing away from the controls, where Ninja Brian would normally sit, Danny moved to his normal seat, arming the laser. Fuck. It wasn’t going to charge fast enough. 

As more of something to do while the meteor barreled towards him, Danny checked his status band. Heart rate up, oxygen low. Time… Not even 20 minutes had passed since he went out cold to now. Fuck. He only had one way to stop his immediate destruction, but he needed to contact Sung and Meouch on Earth.

Frantically, he tried and tried and tried to reset the communication. Nothing. Not even static. What the fuck? Was this supposed to be a death mission? That would explain Sung’s reaction and Ninja Brian’s distance. Well, that was just great. He was gonna die alone in a rocket ship, drifting in space, never to bone again. Never to see any of his friends. Doctor Sung or Commander Meouch or Lord Phobos or Havve or Egoraptor or Ninja Brian.

Surely someone would come get his body and the message he was going to record. He checked the laser’s charge before he hit record on the hologram. “To whoever finds this first, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t stop the meteor. If you don’t recognize me, here is a list of people you can give this to…”

Danny listed off all the people called friends. Gave messages to each. When he got to Ninja Brian, tears were already flowing. He couldn’t stop himself. He left the longest message for Ninja Brian before cutting off the recording. Wiping his eyes, he noticed the laser was charged. Without a second thought, he fired.

And it hit.

Danny fell back in his chair, breathing hard before the alarm sounded again. He checked the system. Everything was small enough to either burn up in the atmosphere or cause minimal damage, what was going on? There wasn’t another meteor, but apparently a chunk was just large enough to hit and dent one of the thrusters on the ship.

Jolting out of his seat, Danny scrambled to his feet to view the damage. Nothing major. Just a bit of fuel leaking. Wait. Danny looked closer. Didn’t Sung say he had just enough fuel? Was he actually going to die? Had he managed to save the world (or at least Southern California) but not himself?

Danny figured he would go out this way. Well, this or space AIDS. Danny shivered at the thought. At least he didn’t have to deal with space AIDS anymore or any space STI for that matter. With the meteor taken care and not an immediate danger, Danny composed himself and aimed the hologram camera closer to himself.

“To whoever finds this message, disregard the other message. I clearly got the meteor. Lucky me.” Danny did an unenthusiastic jazz hands. “That being said, if you don’t recognize me, here’s people who know who I am and what to do with this message…”

With much more time, Danny left longer messages for everyone, nearly double the length of the previous recording. When he got to Ninja Brian, the last person, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t say anything without tearing up, sobs breaking up his words. Wiping his eyes, he said his final goodbye.

Turning off the recording, Danny curled into the chair before getting up and grabbing a blanket from one of the only storage cabinets he had remembered to install on the ship. This ship wasn’t meant to last even a year and here it was, nearly 10. This rocket had seen some shit and it felt fitting in a way that this would be his tomb.

Cuddling into the blanket that smelled worse for wear, Danny tried communication once last time before letting sleep caress him. He hoped his messages would get back to the right people. If not, well, he hoped most of the people already knew his thoughts on them. Only one person wouldn’t. He would live for the rest of his days, not knowing just how Danny felt about him. That’s what stung the most. Not the fact that he was going to die, but the fact that he was going to die without Ninja Brian knowing exactly what he thought of their friendship.

Danny was faintly aware of the ship powering down to conserve the last bit of fuel for emergency communication only. Slowly, the cabin let in the icy air of space, trying to achieve as much equilibrium as possible without going to low. Even through the blanket, Danny started shivering, and as sleep finally got a grasp on him, he stopped.

 

After nearly two hours and three almost outbursts from Ninja Brian, the gang managed to get video and auditory communication up and running again. Ninja Brian stood in the front, ready to give Danny a piece of his mind for being such an idiot trying to do something like this alone. Well, at least he did, so Ninja Brian had to give that to Danny. Readying his hands and mind to see Danny scrolling through his status band or masturbating, Ninja Brian froze at the sight.

Ironic, huh? He was the one on Earth in a warm control room and Danny was curled into a ball, a blanket tight around his pale, slightly blue tinged fist. He looked over to Sung, to Meouch, to anyone to shout and wake up Danny. Apparently, everyone couldn’t understand what had happened. The reading said he had enough fuel to get back. They had assumed he was just waiting for their go ahead.

Shaking the nearest person, Meouch, Ninja Brian signed as quickly and intelligible as possible. They needed to send someone up there to get Danny, otherwise… Ninja Brian mentally shook his head, squeezing his hands in to fist before signing that he didn’t want Danny to do this alone, but let him anyway. That it was his fault.

Although everyone assure Ninja Brian that it wasn’t his fault, he knew it was. Now it was his responsibility to go and retrieve Danny.

Surprisingly, it took less than 10 minutes from when Ninja Brian won them over to when he was launching off. He hoped that this newer rocket would be faster, fast enough to get to Danny before anything major happened.

No. He had to be rational in this. There was a reason he was taught to suppress his emotions, emotional attachments. He went and did crazy shit like this, risking life and limb for a man he could ultimately live without. But this wasn’t just any man. This was the loud, crazy, loving man-child of a goofball. This was his best friend. This was the only one that had managed to worm their way into his heart after he became a ninja.

Fuck emotions.

Ninja Brian, in a way to occupy his mind as he had turned off communication to keep fuel levels high, kept checking his status band. One minute passed, oh wait, two. Two minutes passed. He was very much regretting not getting a link installed between his and Danny’s. At least then he wouldn’t worry as much. Or maybe he would worry much worse.

The hologram in front of him beeped and Ninja Brian accepted the prerecorded message. Sung’s voice flowed through, clearly they thought to not use video as well, “ _ You’re close to the edge of the exosphere. You should see Danny’s ship in 5, 4, 3, 2… _ ”

Ninja Brian glanced up. Sure enough, there was the rocket that Danny had taken into space. Eyes wandering over the ship, Ninja Brian knew exactly why Danny’s ship had shut down. A large crater in one of the fuel tanks for a thruster shone like a star in an otherwise empty sky. Steering carefully, he managed to link the two ships.

Opening the link, Ninja Brian immediately let out a shudder. He had experienced some cold, but nothing close to this. He had to get Danny back into his warm ship. Crossing the flimsy bridge, he found Danny in the same position from the brief hologram he saw in the control room. Scooping up Danny, careful not to move him to heavily, he caught the two emergency recordings. He would get back to those.

Placing Danny on the thin mattress Ninja Brian didn’t remember bringing, he threw another blanket on Danny before going to transfer the messages back to his ship. He wondered what would be on them. Shaking his head, Ninja Brian came back to his ship, checking on Danny. He was still cold and a bit blue, but if Ninja Brian tried hard enough, he could feel that Danny was still hanging on. But just barely.

Ninja Brian clipped the link, leaving the decade’s old ship to float ever onward into space. Well, until it got picked up by a junker or a planet. He didn’t care about anymore. Now that Danny wasn’t on it.

It would be at least 30 minutes before they touched down, so Ninja Brian started the newer of the two messages. Danny’s image popped up, his hair slightly more disheveled than now, and he looked a lot less peaceful, then his voice came through, “ _ To whoever finds this message, disregard the other message. I clearly got the meteor. Lucky me. _ ” Danny waved his hands, frowning more.

Ninja Brian paused it, switching to the first message. This Danny was far more panicked, eyes flicking to the dashboard. His voice came in, shaky and scared, and Ninja Brian could see he was already close to tears, “ _ To whoever finds this first, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t stop the meteor. If you don’t recognize me, here is a list of people you can give this to… _ ”

Ninja Brian skipped through the list and personal messages, until Danny said, “ _ Okay, Ego, pause this and hand it off to Ninja Brian. He’s the last one. _ ” Hologram Danny took a deep, tears rolling down his cheeks, “ _ I’m so sorry, Brian. _ ”

Ninja Brian paused it. In all the time he and Danny had known each other, he had always been Ninja Brian. Huh. Leaning forward, he pressed play.

“ _ I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop it. _ ” A weak laugh pushed it way out of Danny, “ _ I bet if you’re watching this, you’re think you told me. You’re right. I couldn’t do it alone. And now I’m gonna turn into a Danny-sicle after a meteor destroys this ship. If you find my corpse, this is my permission to stab it ten times. _ ” 

Danny’s eyes looked over to the dash and he sighed. “ _ As, like, my last message to you, I just wanna say sorry. For not saying anything earlier. I hate commitment, loathe it, fear it, whatever it. But you stuck with me, you made a commitment to me and I’m sorry I didn’t realize how much it meant to me. How much you meant, mean to me.  _

“ _ But I know now that when I say this, I mean it with my whole heart. I love you. You managed to take my heart, the only thing I never gave anyone. Even now. _ ” Danny looked down at his lap, his shoulders slumping, tears pouring out. “ _ I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything before, before I lose you forever. I’m sorry. I love you. And I hope one day you’ll forgive me. _ ”

Danny hadn’t bothered to wipe his eyes before ending the recording, eyes anywhere but the camera. Ninja Brian leaned back before turning his chair to current Danny, tangible Danny. Getting up, Ninja Brian checked Danny’s status band. It was reading a heart rate and temperature far too low for his liking, but at least it was reading something.

Ninja Brian stood, looking for something warmer than the two thin blankets that currently surrounded Danny. He found a wool blanket and a thermal blanket. Pulling off the blanket he put on Danny when he first got on board, Ninja Brian draped the wool and then the thermal, using the original blanket as a pillow now. He frowned. Even in his most quiet moments, Danny was always moving. Seeing him nearly perfectly still was unnerving.

Looking at his own status band, Ninja Brian got settled into his chair, playing the second message from where he left off.

“ _ That being said, if you don’t recognize me, here’s people who know who I am and what to do with this message… _ ” Danny listed the people once again, giving messages to each of them Again, Ninja Brian skipped through each on as best as possible, but caught the end of Ego’s message. “ _ I’ll miss you buddy. I’m glad we got to jam together. Okay, Ego. If you could give this to Ninja Brian, now that would be great. _ ” Hologram Danny took a deep breath like last time and like last time, started tearing up.

Ninja Brian wanted to reach out and caress Danny, let him know things would be fine, that he would get through this.

“ _ I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Brian. I regret it so much. I regret holding you at arm’s length. _ ” Past Danny laughed, shaking his head, “ _ What am I talking about? I held you as far away as I could. You probably didn’t even realize. To you, it was just how I treated you, ever since the beginning. And at the beginning, it was just because I didn’t know you that well. Yeah, we trained together, but would you ever decide to leave and start a band with another runaway? I know if I hadn’t met you before running away, I probably would have tried to kill you. I… _ ”

Danny looked away, “ _ I don’t know if I would have actually killed you. But that’s… _ ” More tears rolled down his face as he squeezed hands into fists. “ _ I was gonna say that’s a story for another day, but I won’t have another day. Well, I guess it’s not too relevant, so I’m just gonna keep going. Where was I? ...oh. Keeping you away. There is a reason I’ve been keeping you so far way. It’s not because I don’t trust you. In fact, you’re the only one that I trust implicitly. But trust is a two way street and I’m going to break that. _ ”

Danny wiped his face. “ _ Fuck. I was crying like a little bitch about this last message. If you get this one and not the first one, then ...whatever. I keep getting sidetracked. What I’m getting at, why I’ve tried to keep my distance, is because what I’m gonna say is gonna ruin our friendship, all your thoughts of me, all of that. Not that you thought highly of me in the first place. I just hope in death, you’ll remember me as who I was and not what I said. _ ”

Danny cleared his throat and stared straight into the camera for nearly 30 seconds as the tears lazily rolled down his face. “ _ I’m afraid of commitment, terrified even. And you’re probably rolling your eyes. I don’t blame. I have a new girl or whatever nearly every week. Sometimes even less than that. But… But when I think of us, our band, our friendship, I wouldn’t change it for the world. We’ve been friends for years and I never wanted to leave you. At first you were protection. But then you became my friend. And then something else happened. _ ”

Danny smoothed his hair and wiped his palms on the pants of his space suit. “ _ You… You managed to steal the only thing I thought would never be taken from me. You took my heart. You probably don’t know what made me fall for you. Hell, I don’t either, really. But something about you made me think for once in my life, I could settle down. I could have a permanent home with you. Of course I never said anything. Could you imagine? Me coming downstairs and making us breakfast and you coming down in one of my kimonos? _ ”

Ninja Brian paused the video, while he tried to push away all his emotions. Sure, over the years he had gotten more open with Danny, but his training was so ingrained in him. Looking at his status band and then to sleeping Danny then back to Hologram Danny, he frowned. He could imagine slipping into one of Danny’s kimonos after spending the night together. Whether that was just sharing a bed or something else happened, he longed for it. Leaning forward, he resumed the video.

“ _ I would love it, but I know it would never happen. I think that’s what hurts more. Not me dying, but the fact that even if I did manage to survive, you would never want me. But if you’re watching this, then that means I’m dead, so what do I care? _ ” Danny frowned, rubbing at his arms. “ _ Fuck, I think I’m running out of fuel. Well, more than I did. It’s getting a bit cold in here. I’m gonna get a blanket after this, try to stay alive as long as I can. _ ”

Danny cleared his throat, wiped his eyes, and squared his shoulders. “ _ I’m sorry I was a coward and didn’t say anything before, but hopefully you’ll understand where I’m coming from and why I couldn’t say anything. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone before and I hope that doesn’t change your view of me too much. Also, if you see this, can you maybe keep that to yourself? I trust you. _ ” Danny gave a small smile before shutting off the recording once again.

Ninja Brian leaned back in his chair, watching the hologram turn black. Spinning, he noted that Danny was in a tighter ball, shaking slightly. That was good, right? He wasn’t shivering before, so his body was warm enough to shiver. That was reassuring, but still…

Ninja Brian looked back to the black box covering part of the main window. He wondered how long Danny had felt that way. What would have happened if he hadn’t shoved his feelings as far as they would go, or meditating them into strings to cut away from his person. What would have happened if they had actually trusted the other to not run away. If they had been more honest with each other. More open.

He rubbed his face through his mask. He didn’t have the time to put together the pieces, not when the hologram beeped at him. He opened it to a live feed of Sung.

“  _ ’Sah, dude! You’re about 5 minutes from landing. Did you get Danny? Is he okay? _ ”

Ninja Brian nodded, glancing over his shoulder.  _ He’s starting to shiver again, which means he’s getting warmer. _

Meouch moved into the shoot, “ _ We’ll help get him and take care of him when you land. Don’t worry. _ ”

_ Seeing as I’m the only human, shouldn’t I be in charge of taking care of the human? _

The pair on screen shrugged, Sung taking control again, “ _ Works for us. If you need anything, let us know, okay? _ ”

Ninja Brian thought for a moment, before signing,  _ A stretcher, hot water bottles, and blankets. Thick, warm blankets. _ Hopefully that would be enough to bring Danny back to the land of the living. The feed ended and Ninja Brian was shown the two recording from Danny. Did he keep them to himself? Danny didn’t want his message to Ninja Brian go out into the world, but did that apply to everyone’s messages?

To be on the safe side, Ninja Brian moved them to his status band and made sure no evidence could be found on the ship. Taking a deep breath, he straightened, making it safely back on Earth. 

Havve stood, waiting for them, the stretcher in his hands. Ninja Brian nodded a thanks as he carefully placed Danny on it. Phobos offered the hot water bottles, blankets draped over his arms. Together they got Danny comfortable and brought him back to his and Ninja Brian’s apartment. They opted to leave Danny in the living room, hidden behind curtains. Ninja Brian took the spot across from him. Now it was the waiting game.

After 6 hours, Danny was back to a normal temperature, if still on the cooler side of things. After 12 hours, Danny had relaxed into a normal sleeping position. At hour 13, he broke into a fever. Ninja Brian did everything to break it, break the cycle of nightmares that seemed to plague Danny. Halfway through the third day, his fever finally broke and Ninja Brian was back to checking in on him every 20 minutes or so, scared of another fever spike.

It was the end of the week and Ninja Brian was watching the recordings again. It took three days before he watched Danny’s other messages. They were all pretty standard ‘This is the end for me’ messages, so he stuck to just his messages, watching Danny’s face closely, making sure it wasn’t a lie.

“ _ I trust you. _ ” Past Danny said before smiling and turning off the recording. Ninja Brian rewinded it. “ _ I trust you _ .” If it was a CD, it would be skipping at this part. He paused on Danny’s smile before he heard shifting next to him.

Standing, Ninja Brian was ready to draw a blade, defending their home. His eyes zeroed in on the noise. Danny was shifting in his sleep. No, he was waking up, stretching. His eyes found Ninja Brian’s.

“Dude, I just had the craziest dream.” His eyes flicked to the television. “Oh.” Danny sat up slowly, head hung. “I guess it wasn’t a dream.”

_ Why didn’t you say anything? _

Danny blinked. He didn’t understand the obvious question. “What?”

Ninja Brian gestured to the TV.  _ Why didn’t you say something before? You could have died. You almost did. _

“You know why I couldn’t.” It felt like his chest was being crushed on all sides. Standing, a little wobbly for a week of being out, Danny made his way to the entrance to the living room, where Ninja Brian stood in his way. “Ninja Brian, please. I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

Ninja Brian cupped Danny’s face, surprised when he didn’t fight. Tugging his mask down, just to see his lips, he mouthed three words. Danny looked from his lips to his eyes and then repeated that a few more times.

“You’re lying. You’re…” He trusted Ninja Brian. He  _ had _ trusted Ninja Brian. Now he was just a big joke.

Ninja Brian pulled their heads together, their foreheads touching lightly. He hoped that this small gesture would prove Danny wrong. 

Danny shifted, burying his face in his temple. “Tell me you’re not lying, that this isn’t a big fat joke.”

Ninja Brian had no words, just gestures. He wrapped his arms around Danny, hugging him tightly.

Danny let out a wet laugh, “Don’t let me do anything like that stupid ever, ever again.” Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw a sign,  _ Never _ .


End file.
